Wow. That was enlightening, thought-provoking, and needed. I am now 95% comfortable in my choice this year. I can't ever be 100 because of the last question posed. I just don't know.
On another fun note, I am a midwit and I didn't even know it until today. 😂🤭🤦♀️
I was sort of shocked there too. Not disputing what Daniel is saying. This is semantics and a who cares type thing but a +130 IQ is depending on who you ask like 2-5% of the population. This crudely extrapolates to of course 4-10% of the smarter than average population.
Well, I suppose that depends on whether you believe voting for Trump/Vance will help stave off what otherwise would be a complete loss of our freedoms. If so, then supporting that position would help whereas casting doubts helps no one. If not, then I hope you get your redoubt ready in time.
My analysis of that is *very* detailed and deep and runs to a few contingencies, but it's not one I'll be writing up here, because the point of this forum is not to advocate for any partisan position, but to hand people the background and thinking tools to actually understand and/or be involved in their world in a substantive fashion.
What I am willing to say (and I think I've said it in other articles, but I don't recall which ones at the moment) is that we're in the unraveling part of the historical cycle, and it's *probably* gonna be the president who wins the 2028 and/or 2032 election that will set the tone for the next historical cycle. I am not sure whether this coming cycle will wind up being historically significant or not.
re: 'Gratitude is a humiliating emotion' -- ah, it's not _supposed_ to be. Humbling, perhaps, but only in the good sense of humbling. There _ought_ to be enough joy in your gratitude to get yourself over whatever damage your ego suffers. Now, if somebody chooses to rub it in your face, then _they_ can be acting in a way that is humiliating, but that is they, not the gratitude, no?
I wonder if this is a dignity/guilt vs honor/shame culture thing? Contributing to how hard it is to assimilate people people from certain cultures?
The great strength of the Christian tradition and some of the parts of the Buddhist tradition is the emphasis both place on gratitude. Training the spirit to live with gratitude, and have it be edifying rather than degrading, is one of the great secrets of living a good and happy life, but, like table manners, it doesn't come entirely naturally to most people without practice and training.
Thanks for another expansive article. I find myself reading many of them and thinking of the ideas through the frame of a smaller entity like a family or a marriage.
Not a Trump supporter? So what do you support, the end of America? All irrelevant, academic musings aside, the choice is very simple, to bring America back from the brink of complete collapse caused by the insane policies of the past four years and restore the previous four years of prosperity, freedom and world peace. There is no middle ground, no nuance, no negotiation with extremists. Slavery or freedom.
Trump is the right kind of figure (an outsider) in the right place at the right time, but he's not actually (in my estimation) up to the job. If I lived in a place where my vote mattered, I might be forced to take a good hard look at voting for him rather than abstaining, but I live in a supermajority state where my vote doesn't matter a a whit, so I have the luxury of simply observing the historical dynamics without actually having to decide who I dislike least in the ballot box ;-)
You can still influence votes where they might count. I live in a different country and am not American, but our fate here is directly tied to that of the USA.
Great stuff as always and just asking because it provokes thought:
I was confused a bit here........ "without giving them anything of value at all. Flattery, hookers, cash (which, if you control the mint, is literally valueless), drugs, exclusive parties with taboo pleasures on remote islands, jobs in your operation once they move on from their current position, free publicity, and public endorsements"
All these things don't provide "value"? Or, are you saying they don't provide an intrinsic or long term value and are in the end degenerate or maybe a "wash"?
They are valueless on two axes that work to the advantage of the payer:
1) They are free or nearly free to furnish--and where they cost money, they don't cost anything in terms of actual power and influence (which are the real currency that matters in this kind of game).
2) They provide no lasting value to the recipients, and very little opportunity for the recipient to build a competing power base--they also are the kinds of payment/gifts that promote dependency upon the payer, so they actually return greater power in exchange for the pay off.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-147408960?source=queue showed up today. So Luke Burgis is hiring, some full time positions which would need you to relocate, and some part time ones which can be done from anywhere. No clue what it is he is really looking for when it comes to building new creative communities, but figured you could always ask, if the idea sounded at all good.
Wow. That was enlightening, thought-provoking, and needed. I am now 95% comfortable in my choice this year. I can't ever be 100 because of the last question posed. I just don't know.
On another fun note, I am a midwit and I didn't even know it until today. 😂🤭🤦♀️
I was sort of shocked there too. Not disputing what Daniel is saying. This is semantics and a who cares type thing but a +130 IQ is depending on who you ask like 2-5% of the population. This crudely extrapolates to of course 4-10% of the smarter than average population.
Well, I suppose that depends on whether you believe voting for Trump/Vance will help stave off what otherwise would be a complete loss of our freedoms. If so, then supporting that position would help whereas casting doubts helps no one. If not, then I hope you get your redoubt ready in time.
My analysis of that is *very* detailed and deep and runs to a few contingencies, but it's not one I'll be writing up here, because the point of this forum is not to advocate for any partisan position, but to hand people the background and thinking tools to actually understand and/or be involved in their world in a substantive fashion.
What I am willing to say (and I think I've said it in other articles, but I don't recall which ones at the moment) is that we're in the unraveling part of the historical cycle, and it's *probably* gonna be the president who wins the 2028 and/or 2032 election that will set the tone for the next historical cycle. I am not sure whether this coming cycle will wind up being historically significant or not.
Understood. I pray you are correct and in the coming years we will still have access to articles such as yours, as well as open discussions.
re: 'Gratitude is a humiliating emotion' -- ah, it's not _supposed_ to be. Humbling, perhaps, but only in the good sense of humbling. There _ought_ to be enough joy in your gratitude to get yourself over whatever damage your ego suffers. Now, if somebody chooses to rub it in your face, then _they_ can be acting in a way that is humiliating, but that is they, not the gratitude, no?
I wonder if this is a dignity/guilt vs honor/shame culture thing? Contributing to how hard it is to assimilate people people from certain cultures?
The great strength of the Christian tradition and some of the parts of the Buddhist tradition is the emphasis both place on gratitude. Training the spirit to live with gratitude, and have it be edifying rather than degrading, is one of the great secrets of living a good and happy life, but, like table manners, it doesn't come entirely naturally to most people without practice and training.
Thanks for another expansive article. I find myself reading many of them and thinking of the ideas through the frame of a smaller entity like a family or a marriage.
Not a Trump supporter? So what do you support, the end of America? All irrelevant, academic musings aside, the choice is very simple, to bring America back from the brink of complete collapse caused by the insane policies of the past four years and restore the previous four years of prosperity, freedom and world peace. There is no middle ground, no nuance, no negotiation with extremists. Slavery or freedom.
Trump is the right kind of figure (an outsider) in the right place at the right time, but he's not actually (in my estimation) up to the job. If I lived in a place where my vote mattered, I might be forced to take a good hard look at voting for him rather than abstaining, but I live in a supermajority state where my vote doesn't matter a a whit, so I have the luxury of simply observing the historical dynamics without actually having to decide who I dislike least in the ballot box ;-)
You can still influence votes where they might count. I live in a different country and am not American, but our fate here is directly tied to that of the USA.
How?
Great stuff as always and just asking because it provokes thought:
I was confused a bit here........ "without giving them anything of value at all. Flattery, hookers, cash (which, if you control the mint, is literally valueless), drugs, exclusive parties with taboo pleasures on remote islands, jobs in your operation once they move on from their current position, free publicity, and public endorsements"
All these things don't provide "value"? Or, are you saying they don't provide an intrinsic or long term value and are in the end degenerate or maybe a "wash"?
They are valueless on two axes that work to the advantage of the payer:
1) They are free or nearly free to furnish--and where they cost money, they don't cost anything in terms of actual power and influence (which are the real currency that matters in this kind of game).
2) They provide no lasting value to the recipients, and very little opportunity for the recipient to build a competing power base--they also are the kinds of payment/gifts that promote dependency upon the payer, so they actually return greater power in exchange for the pay off.
Thanks. This enlightens/explains in a way I hadn’t thought of.
Off topic:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-147408960?source=queue showed up today. So Luke Burgis is hiring, some full time positions which would need you to relocate, and some part time ones which can be done from anywhere. No clue what it is he is really looking for when it comes to building new creative communities, but figured you could always ask, if the idea sounded at all good.